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In Film: Low-budget filmmakers rely on tricks, shortcuts, even some lawbreaking

By Saba Hamedy

Los Angeles Times

Posted:
05/29/2014 01:00:00 AM MDT

Director KT Kent center, works with cinematographer Anthony Pietromonaco and grip Cornell Mitchell to set a scene for the movie "Lockhart;" in Los Angeles on March 10, 2014. Producing movies on a cheap budget means everyone may work several roles, shortcuts taken and sometimes even lawbreaking occurs. (Los Angeles Times/MCT — Robert Gauthier)

In a quiet hillside home in Topanga Canyon, filmmaker Brian McGuire instructed his cast members to take their shirts off, put their sunglasses on, snort fake cocaine and "party hard."

The 20-person cast and crew were filming a party scene for McGuire's low-budget production in a "borrowed" home. Permission wasn't a problem — a friend of McGuire's who had helped decorate the house knew where the key was.

"We didn't even think we were trespassing, really," McGuire said of the home, which was on the market. "We figured we'd just shoot here on a weekend when we didn't think anyone was coming."

By the third and final day of shooting the scene for the film, a dark comedy called "Prevertere," the party was going really well — no damage, decent footage. Then McGuire and crew had an unexpected guest.

"A Realtor showed up with a couple of clients to show the house, and we were there shooting out this crazy party scene," McGuire said. "All of a sudden I'm hearing that cops are on their way. So we shot this whole number in 20 minutes, when it should have been in three hours ... and packed up and ran out of the house."

McGuire, 38, knows things aren't always easy — or necessarily legal — when it comes to low-budget filmmaking, a world filled with improvisation, favors and shortcuts.

"I've been close to danger, but I've gotten out of it," McGuire said. "If you ever do get questioned, there are tricks to avoid trouble."

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Some of McGuire's favorite "tricks" include not using a tripod ("they can't fine you if you don't put a tripod on the ground") or saying he's filming a wedding video. Once, when filming downtown, McGuire had his crew push the cameraman around in a wheelchair to avoid getting busted.

The shaggy-haired filmmaker has made six low-budget films and is working on his seventh. "I don't think I've ever gotten a permit."

Last year, permits for 584 feature films were sought from FilmL.A., the office that processes film permits in the city, said Philip Sokoloski, a spokesman for the office.

The movies had budgets as high as $170 million for the Marvel Studios hero flick "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which filmed mostly in the city.

But also filming on the streets of the city are super-low-budget films made by students and other Hollywood hopefuls, like McGuire, working with four-digit budgets.

Some are working without permits despite a city ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor to film without one.

The cost is almost certainly a large factor: A film permit through FilmL.A. costs a minimum of $625. Additional fees may be imposed by the city or county — depending on choice of locations and the "activities you plan to film," according to its website.

Sokoloski said it's harder for illegal filming to go unnoticed. In recent years, the Los Angeles Police Department has cracked down on unpermitted filming through its Contract Services Section.

"Revisions to L.A.'s film ordinance provided a clear legal mechanism for film permit enforcement," he said. "LAPD's choice to dedicate a unit to film permit approval and enforcement made enforcement efforts more consistent. (And) communities know the process that legal filming goes through, so illegal filming stands out."

Sokoloski said the LAPD reported 34 permit citations in 2012 and 52 citations in 2013.

"Whenever a citation is issued, the unpermitted activity is also shut down immediately," he said.

"People want to be part of something that's cool and fun," filmmaker David Lockhart said. "Low-budget filmmaking is about community and sharing your talents with others within that community."

It took Lockhart only about 30 minutes to turn a Culver City dive bar into the set of a 1920s flashback scene for his $500,000 film "Lockhart."

Although Lockhart is working with a larger budget than McGuire, he still uses a lot of tricks to save money. For this project, he did get a permit — but he said he's avoided doing so with smaller films in the past.